Alex White (Dublin South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I can only agree with what the Deputy has said and the examples given. People do need to bring the extent to which current services are not up to scratch to the attention of the commercial operators. Occasionally, colleagues in this room and others bring the matter to my attention. As I indicated, I have no direct responsibility for the operation of commercial companies. However, from time to time we meet them and communicate concerns in a general sense. The regulator has a critically important role to play in that regard. If there is anything I can usefully do as Minister in the interim, leaving aside the big picture about which we have been talking, I will try to do it, but my main concentration is on fixing the problem once and for all in order that whoever will be sitting in my position or that of any of the Deputies across from me in three years' time or at the end of the next Oireachtas in five years' time will not be saying we did a half-baked job, that we did not do it properly or that we did not take steps to ensure coverage was provided for everyone in rural areas, in particular.